Moms Talk: What Happened?!?!

Welcome back to Moms Talk, a feature that is part of a new initiative on our Patch sites to reach out to moms and families.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community are all welcome to weigh in and use the discussion forum as a resource. Each week, we'll pose a question and solicit feedback on a wide array of issues, but you should feel free to suggest questions you'd like to see discussed as well.

This week, our discussion turns to the unfortunate situation where your child gets hurt at school. 

I got the dreaded call yesterday - "Mrs. LyJordan?  I'm calling to let you know that your son was in an accident.  He's okay, but he's got a bit of a shiner." 

WHAT?!?  My five year old's first shiner????  My second reaction was "Is he okay?"  I went into action mode.  Doctors, x-rays, medicine, observation, etc.  (He's fine by the way, thanks for asking).

My husband, on the other hand, immediately went into blame mode.  "What was he doing?  Who was he playing with?  Why were they playing soccer so close to the asphalt?  What teachers were there?  How many kids are out there at the same time?" 

I was astounded.  I'm the lawyer in the family.  Stereotypes would dictate that I would have launched into that reaction.  And yet, here we are - 24 hours later and I still feel the same.  Meh.  These kids are five.  Their energy is endless.  Their coordination is still developing.  And frankly, this stuff happens.  In my book, it could have easily have happened when he was playing basketball with his friends in front of our house.  Even if I was standing right next to him.  So, why are we laying blame on these teachers? 

Then, I kind of check myself and think, "Maybe I am being too lax?  After all, these people are responsible for the care of my child for eight hours.  What if they weren't taking adequate care?"

How do you feel about this situation?  Has this happened to you?  I'm sure there are situations where a lack of supervision is obvious.  But what about a scenario  where it could easily have happened on "your watch" and can be attributed to "kids being kids?"